Siam Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1917-1918

 

World War I.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

This medal was instituted in 1921 following an international agreement at the Inter-allied Peace Conference immediately preceding the Treaty of Versailles which was signed in June 1919.

 

The basic design - a ‘Winged Victory’ - and ‘rainbow’ ribbon was adopted by Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Union of South Africa and the USA. Siam and Japan also issued the medal but with a different design - although the ribbon matched that of the others.

 

The Siam medal was awarded to the Thai military of the expeditionary force numbering about 1,200 men that went to France in the summer of 1918 and also to those engaged in transporting them.

 

It was designed by Prince Iddhidebsan Kritakara (1890-1935) and is presumed to have been manufactured at the Royal Thai Mint. There were two contemporary un-official versions, distinguishable by the ear of Vishnu being covered in all.

 

Approximately 1,500 medals were awarded.

 

 

The medal is circular, 33mm in diameter and was struck in bronze. The obverse of this medal depicts image of the Thai Lord Vishnu riding a ‘garuda’.

 

The reverse contains the inscription in Thai letters for; ‘THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION’, within a lotus-decorated border.

 

The medal was suspended by a ring through a small laterally pierced mount fixed to the top of the medal.

 

This medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 37mm wide and is the silk moiré rainbow coloured design common to all the Inter-Allied Victory Medals issued by the First World War Allies.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- Siam Forces During World War I.

- The Entente Powers.

 

Siam Forces During World War I - Siam, now known as Thailand, participated in World War I from its declaration of war against the Central Powers on July 22, 1917and sent 1,284 volunteer troops under the command of General Phya Pijaijarnrit to serve in the Western Front with the combined Franco-British force.

 

The expeditionary force, which arrived in 1918, included 95 qualified pilots and a medical unit. The Siamese troops were the only Southeast Asians in the European theatre (except for the Chinese Labour Corps and 140,000 Vietnamese troops and workers drafted by the French).

 

It was done mainly to gain favour from Britain and France, the main powers in Indochina at the time. Siam's token participation in World War I secured it a seat at the Versailles Peace Conference and the League of Nations, and Foreign Minister Devawongse used this opportunity to argue for the amendments of the 19th century treaties and the restoration of full Siamese sovereignty.

 

The United States obliged in 1920, while France and Britain delayed until 1925

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Entente Powers - The Entente Powers or Allies were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire; Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions were secondary members of the Entente.

 

The United States declared war on Germany in 1917 on the grounds that Germany violated U.S. neutrality by attacking international shipping and because of the Zimmermann Telegram sent to Mexico.

 

The U.S. entered the war as an ‘associated power’, rather than a formal ally of France and the United Kingdom, in order to avoid ‘foreign entanglements’. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, neither declared war.

 

Although the Dominions and Crown Colonies of the British Empire made significant contributions to the Allied war effort, they did not have independent foreign policies during World War I. Operational control of British Empire forces was in the hands of the five-member British War Cabinet (BWC).

 

However, the Dominion governments controlled recruiting, and did remove personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit.

 

From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation. The Australian Corps and Canadian Corps were placed for the first time under the command of Australian and Canadian Lieutenant Generals John Monash and Arthur Currie, respectively, who reported in turn to British generals.

 

In April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch.

 

The only countries represented in the 1918 armistice which ended the combat were Britain, France and Germany.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.